Tuesday, August 12, 2014

On the Road - Day 1 - Toronto to Levis Quebec

We are spreading this over four days and don't plan on getting to Charlottetown PEI until Saturday the 16th.

We packed up the car and were on the road by 8am.
The first leg of our trip will take us to Levis in Quebec.

Time zone - Eastern Time same as Toronto

It is about an eight hour drive from Toronto to Levis in Quebec. Plus a breakfast stop, 2 bathroom/gas stop and lunch.

So true when you don't have to go to work!

Traffic was very busy westbound into Toronto but eastbound was easy.
Getting out of Toronto was fairly easy, not a lot of traffic. It started to rain around Coburg and was really heavy for a few hours.

Breakfast at Tim Horton's outside Port Hope.

The rain let up as we crossed into Quebec.

We took the new toll highway 30 that bypasses Montreal.

Once we had bypassed Montreal we headed towards Quebec City.

We pulled off around 2pm to get something out of the cooler as we were getting hungry when lo and behold we spotted:

When we have a long drive like this we always ensure that the hotel has a restaurant or at least be in town so we can walk to dinner. The last thing we want is to get back into the car!!

BUT when I checked in and asked about the restaurant's location I was told that it was closed as the chef had left. Not pleased to say the least.

The hotel is charming and the owner who checked me in was Marian Stastny, an iconic hockey player from Slovakia who played for the now defunct Quebec Nordiques.

Dinner ended up being at Mike's a submarine chain in Quebec since 1967. I love their subs.
A couple sat near us and I was astounded that they were speaking English and having trouble communicating with the server. John stepped in and helped translate. It turns out they are from Florida, flew into Buffalo, drove to Cooperstown NY (Baseball Hall of Fame), then crossed into Canada at Guananoque , toured the Thousand Islands and then drove to Levis Quebec and planning on visiting Quebec City, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto before flying home.